Capitalism, Faith, and Tradition: A Catholic Perspective from Liberalism

For decades, the idea that capitalism and Christianity are incompatible has been promoted, driven by both the left and certain poorly catechized Catholic sectors. According to this narrative, the Church should oppose the market, as if the defense of private property, free enterprise, and individual responsibility were sins. However, this view contradicts the Magisterium and thinkers like Father Robert Sirico, founder of the Acton Institute, who argues the compatibility between economic freedom and Catholic doctrine.

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Robert Sirico: capitalism as an exercise of freedom

Father Sirico was a socialist before becoming a Catholic priest. His conversion was more than ideological: he discovered that collectivism denies human dignity and freedom, essential for Christianity. For him, authentic capitalism—based on private property and subsidiarity—is consistent with faith.

The Church's social doctrine—in documents like Rerum Novarum, Centesimus Annus, or Caritas in Veritate—doesn't condemn capitalism itself, but its distortions: materialism, exploitation, idolatry of money. It proposes an economy at the service of man, where free initiative, enterprise, and charity are articulated in real solidarity.

Sirico argues that the free market allows the exercise of moral freedom in the economic sphere, promoting dignified work and creativity. Personal virtue should be the moral regulator, not state interventionism.

2025 Uruguay election results

Uruguay and its contradictions: traditional progressivism

In Uruguay, Sirico's analysis helps to understand the dominant secular progressivism. The traditional parties—Colorado and Nacional—have promoted policies that erode Christian values, such as abortion, gender ideology, and hyper-statism.

Militant secularism presents itself as neutral, but it is hostile to faith. The left attacks capitalism as the enemy of the people, while the "center" applies economic statism that destroys personal initiative and promotes dependence on the State.

The result is an atomized society: the natural family weakened, education turned into indoctrination, and the economy suffocated by taxes and bureaucracy. This is far from the Christian ideal of a subsidiary society.

Conclusion: freedom and virtue

The real challenge is not to oppose capitalism to Christianity, but to illuminate the former with the morality of the latter. A free and virtuous economy requires responsible citizens, not paternalistic governments.

The future of Uruguay is not in more statist progressivism, but in a political and economic vision that repositions the human person—free, dignified, responsible—at the center.

As Father Sirico states: "freedom is not the end, but the means to seek the truth and do good". What is at stake is not just an economic model, but the very soul of our society.